Samsung already filed a patent for enabling users to unlock their smartphone with a doodle. Now researchers at Rutgers University are embarking on a similar quest to offer a more secure way for people to unlock their device. In the future, folks might be able to access their locked handset by drawing a password of any shape with as many fingers as they want.
This method could be far safer than tracing a password through fixed points on a smartphone’s display, or inputting a code, as most of us do today. We’ve recently seen that biometric sensors can be fooled by something as simple as a printout of a fingerprint. Will a doodle for a passcode alleviate security concerns related to somewhat traditional methods to unlock a phone?
It certainly looks like it. Text passwords and pattern unlock mechanisms are not just far from intuitive; they’re easy to compromise. Handsets serve all kinds of important purposes covering mobile banking, storing of work-related files, hoarding of personal data and much more. Their small size and powerful functionality render them indispensable in today’s world.
As Yulong Yang, a team member and developer of the software used for the Rutgers University study, explained, trouble makers who manage to get hold of and unlock an individual’s phone, can impersonate them thanks to all the information at their disposal. Preventing hackers from forcefully accessing a user’s smartphone is more crucial than ever before.
In the Rutgers University experiment, 91 participants had their handsets installed with the custom-built ‘doodling’ software. They were asked to create free-form as well as text passwords. Based on certain tasks allotted to them, it was discovered than most of the subjects preferred shapes for unlock codes over letters or lines. 93.6% swayed toward single-finger doodles over multi-finger ones.
The participants who favored gesture passwords even spent 22% less time logging into apps or services on their mobile devices, and 42% less time creating passwords. Free-form or doodle-based passwords can be utilized in areas other than smartphone security. They can also be employed in laptop touchpads, access points such as doors with touchscreens and more.